Cascesi

We decided to take a walk to Battifolle (not the one near Arezzo but the one in the Casentino). It is a tiny hamlet on a ridge spur with great visibility down onto the Arno valley and was the site of a medieval castle. On the way there we passed the even tinier hamlet of Cascesi. This is a detail of the imposing medieval house at the centre of the hamlet. It is believed to have acted as a kind of court of justice when the area was ruled by the Conti Guidi counts. It is mentioned somewhere in Machiavelli's writings.

We stopped and had sandwiches and coffee at the top. There is a graveyard at the Poggiolino di Battifolle that was still full of last Sunday's snow (extra). I noticed that a number of the gravestones commemorated people called Folli - as in people of Battifolle. 

It is a beautiful hillside hamlet with small fields and oak and chestnut woods. An old Roman road passes Cascesi on its way up to the Consuma Pass and eventually Florence.

The Omicron wave that caused over 100 cases over Christmas in our little district of villages and hamlets seems to be abating. Which is good. 50 people still have the virus but the local pharmacy reports that tests are coming back mainly negative.

Watched a New Zealand film called 'Tracker'. Lovely scenes of South Island rain forest and the drier hills on the east side of the Alps. Has a nice twist at the end.